DANBURY -- As part of his budget proposal, Mayor Mark Boughton has proposed cutting the amount of money available from the city to nonprofit organizations.

Instead of providing outright grants to the organizations, the

Common Council
has approved a new method that would create a citizen task force to dole out the money.

Last year, the city gave out about $1.2 million in grants. That was reduced in the proposed budget to $500,000, although Boughton noted that an additional $400,000 will be distributed to organizations like the Danbury Women's Center and the
Danbury Animal Welfare Society
as separate line items in the budget.

"These organizations provide services that the city would normally have to," Boughton said. "Nonprofits can often provide these services more efficiently than the city."

Boughton has also proposed a new program by which residents themselves can choose to donate money to help their fellow residents. It's called Danbury Cares About Danbury.

Under the new program, a donation form will be sent to each city taxpayer as part of their tax notification sent out in June.

"With 25,000 tax parcels in the city, if each parcel donated just $20.00, that would result in an additional $500,000 of direct aid for our residents," he said.

Residents could choose one of three categories for their donations -- health, education or economy. The citizen task force will dole out the money to programs that provide services under those categories. Economic donations, for example, are designed to help city residents with needs associated with housing and job training.

"This program will involve Danbury residents helping out their friends and neighbors in the city who are struggling in this time of need," Boughton said.

Council member
Colleen Stanley
, who helped Boughton create the Danbury Cares About Danbury program, said there are a lot of generous people in the city who would donate under the program, "especially if they can decide how the money gets used."

While the
United Way
of Western Connecticut will organize and provide the infrastructure for the citizen task force that will distribute the funding, city officials stressed that it will be city residents making the decisions.

The task force will be doling out the $500,000 set aside for nonprofits by the city as well as the money donated by city residents.

Michael Johnston
, the chief executive officer of the local United Way, said they already have a number of city residents interested in serving on the task force. He said that while they need at least 18 to 20 people, he would like to see around 25 to 30 people serving on the board.

"We would like to have plenty of people involved in the process," Johnston said. "This is an opportunity for city residents to influence how their tax dollars are distributed."